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Students feel buzz of competition at bee
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by GRETCHEN PHILLIPS
Jazmine Smith, showed confidence as she entered the final round of the Charles County Spelling Bee. Pictured in back, Dang-Quang Tran was the runner-up in the competition.
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After eight rounds of grueling spelling words, victory was as sweet as honey when John Hanson Middle School student Jazmine Smith confidently spelled kinesiology for the county spelling bee championship.
Including alternates, 60 students packed the gym of Milton M. Somers Middle School on Friday for the 31st annual Charles County Public Schools Spelling Bee, which included middle school students from public, private and home schools.
Sponsored by the Maryland Independent, Charles County Public Schools, the College of Southern Maryland, the Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative and Chaney Enterprises, the bee began without a hitch as students buzzed along with only a few stings in the beginning.
In round one, many students took to the bee as if it were a cakewalk, spelling such words as "shampoo" and "mole" with ease. Others weren't so pleased to get trickier words such as "bugle" and "nasal." One let fly with "oh crap" after incorrectly spelling the word "prairie" early in the competition.
Students used many tricks to properly spell the word and gathered extra time from the judges by asking the word caller to "repeat the word," and, "Could you please use it in a sentence?"
Mike Satori, of John Hanson Middle School broke the monotony of asking the same questions of the word caller when he simply looked at the caller after she called the word and said politely "What?"
Satori, 14, spelled his way clear to the seventh round, an accomplishment he is very proud of. One of very few special education students to compete in the bee, Satori spoke clearly and seemed confident with every word.
"Stay calm, enunciate and slow down," Satori said as advice for future spellers.
Many students appeared calm as others started showing signs of nervousness going into later rounds.
Students tapped their feet, fidgeted with their fingers and looked around for signs of reassurance from the audience.
Gaston Lopez, 14, of Mattawoman Middle School and Wesley Thomsen, 14, of the Southern Maryland Active and Supportive Home-Schoolers both used their fingers to write out words on their hands and sleeves.
Lopez appeared to be typing his words into his palm.
"It's a way for me to help concentrate," he said.
Gaston left the competition in round eight, however, his team accumulated enough points throughout the competition to win the Bee as a team.
Each school gets points based on the completion of a word.
The team with the most points at the end of the completion is named the winning team.
The winning speller, on the other hand, is the last speller standing. Smith, 14, stood in amazement as she properly spelled kinesiology for the win.
She and runner-up Dang-Quang Tran, 12, of Mattawoman went head to head incorrectly spelling word after word until finally Smith was able to pull off two correct in a row sealing her championship.
Smith stood calm as the crowd cheered her on and teammates ran up to her with hugs and encouraging words such as "I knew you could do it."
Smith later said she knew she could do it to.
"You just have to study a lot, be confident and if you don't know a word, look it up," she said.
Smith's dad, Maurice, got every word on video, putting the camera down long enough to smile.
He said was very excited and "proud for her."
Maurice was on film duty that evening capturing every moment for Jazmine's mother who is on active duty in Arizona.
Jazmine admitted she did not know what kinesiology meant, but was confident that she could spell it.
Jazmine will be taking her confidence downtown as she competes in the 82nd annual Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., in late May.
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